PARADIP: Rural parts of Jagatsinghpur district continue to reel under the impact of cyclone Amphan as nearly seven days after the disaster, both electricity and relief are yet to reach the affected villagers.
In many panchayats of Erasama block, the nights are still dark and villagers, roofless. Hundreds of people who lost their houses in the cyclone have not been provided any assistance.
With no power supply and the rising summer heat, their woes have worsened.
Sandhkuda, a village inhabited by thousands of fishermen in Paradip, bore the maximum brunt of Amphan. Nearly 150 thatched houses collapsed while many fishermen lost their boats and nets.
A week later, relief materials including polythene sheets are yet to reach the people who are now living under the open sky.
Parbati, a villager, said, “My thatched house was damaged in the cyclone and since then, my four-member family has been living in the open. Besides, power supply is yet to be restored in the village. Neither the district officials nor any elected representatives have visited the village yet.”
Like Parbati, several other villagers also expressed their displeasure over the apathy of the district administration to their plight. K Mariyama said the fishermen community of Sandhkuda are living in misery and the administration has turned a blind eye to their pitiable condition. “While we are spending the nights in darkness, the days are too hot in absence of electricity,” he rued.
Those affected by the the cyclone in Kujang and Tirtol also levelled similar allegations of non-supply of relief materials and accused the officials of callousness.
Nearly 17,000 people were evacuated during Amphan and after the cyclone passed, houses of most of these evacuees were either partially or completely damaged.
Deputy Collector (Emergency) Saswat Das said the district administration has already submitted a detailed report on house damage and other losses to the Special Relief Commissioner.
Executive Engineer, CESU Smutiranjan Swain said barring a few villages, electricity supply has been restored in all the affected coastal areas of Kujang, Tirtol and Erasama blocks. Due to local disputes and restoration work, restoration of power supply has been delayed. However, efforts are on to provide electricity to these villages soon.